In mobile radiotelephone applications, it is, at times, desirable to have facilities for hands-free operation so that the driver of the vehicle need not hold a microphone or other handset while driving. It is assumed without limitation that the driver is the principal radiotelephone user. It has been found that many mobile unit users dislike microphones which are attached to their person or to their clothing in the manner often observed in the entertainment industry. In a more technical sense, it is further desirable that any microphone be located relatively close to a user's mouth in such a way as to be readily deflectable in the event of a change in position of the body of the user. Furthermore, the microphone should be so locatable with a minimum of distraction to the user.
There are a wide variety of adjustable support arrangements for subscriber telephone apparatus including microphones. One example is found in the A. Hufschmid U.S. Pat. No. 2,048,865 in which a handset articulated support of plural links is flexible in only one direction because the links are secured together by off-center transverse pins. In such an arrangement, there is basically one fixed radius of extended position, and adjustable set screws are provided to fix the height and angle of the extended support. An electric cord for the handset extends through the links and through an unpivoted end of a rotatable support for the multilink flexible support. It is at once apparent that substantial user attention is required in order to make the various adjustments for correctly positioning the multilink support member.